Tamil Nadu: Erode bypoll records 74.69% polling

An estimated 74.69 per cent of the over 2.20 lakh registered voters turned up at polling stations to exercise their franchise in the by-elections to Erode (east) assembly constituency on Monday. The bypoll was necessitated after the death of Congress legislator Thirumahan E Ve Ra in January this year.

The polling was peaceful barring stray incidents of allegations of malpractice. At the end of the polling at 6 pm, over 1.69 lakh voters cast their votes with the constituency registering almost 75 per cent polling.

“The polling was peaceful. We will be shifting the EVMs to the counting centre by tonight. Necessary security arrangements have been made at the counting centres,” Sivakumar, the returning officer, said.

Read | Erode East bypolls: 'I will win by 25,000 votes,' says AIADMK's K S Thenarasu

The bypoll was held amid allegations of massive inducements to voters, including cash, silver ornaments, and kitchen appliances, by contesting political parties. Though 77 candidates are in the fray, the contest is between Congress’ E V K S Elangovan, father of the deceased legislator, and AIADMK’s K S Thennarasu, with nominees of Tamil nationalist outfit NTK and DMDK of actor Vijayakant on the sidelines.

While the bypoll will be the first major popularity test for the 20-month-old Stalin government, the results are equally important for the AIADMK whose leader Edappadi K Palaniswami has taken complete control of the principal Opposition party.

Though the by-election will have no bearing on the DMK government, the ruling party hasn’t taken any chances as it fielded almost the entire cabinet to campaign for Elangovan. The AIADMK also ensured that its senior leaders camped in Erode and campaigned for Thennarasu as EPS believes a victory or a “good show” will only help further consolidate his hold over the party.

The highlight of the election is the large-scale violations of the model code of conduct with television channels exposing cadres of political parties, especially the ruling DMK and AIADMK, inducing voters through money, silver ornaments, kitchen appliances, and sarees among other things.

Tamil Nadu has had a long history of bribing voters with elections to three assembly constituencies in 2016 and one Lok Sabha seat in 2019 rescinded by the Election Commission due to large-scale distribution of money. The by-election to R K Nagar after J Jayalalithaa’s death was also rescinded for the same reason.

Palaniswami is making the by-election into a referendum on the performance of the 20-month-old DMK government. Palaniswami, who is under pressure to prove his standing in the faction-ridden AIADMK, feels a victory in Erode (east) or significantly reducing the Congress’ candidate’s majority will set the tone for next year’s general elections.

The DMK too believes a victory with a huge margin in the by-election will cement the party’s position ahead of next year’s general elections. The party has dispatched at least half-a-dozen ministers to Erode to work for the Congress candidate.

In the 2021 elections, Elangovan’s son, and Congress nominee, Thirumahan, had won the seat dominated by Mudaliars and Muslims by over 7,000 votes.